A ferocious fire has left a popular Fulham bar and restaurant in tatters.

Joe's Brasserie, in Wandsworth Bridge Road, suffered major damage in the blaze, which ripped through the basement kitchen on Sunday morning at about 10am.

More than 20 fire fighters battled for nearly five hours to douse the flames, which destroyed a large part of the kitchen and caused extensive smoke damage to much of the rest of the building.

It is not believed any customers were in the restaurant, which wasn't due to open until 11am, at the time of the fire. Eyewitnesses said five or six staff members were safely evacuated.

A large section of the road was closed for several hours until the emergency crews left at about 3.30pm.

Other eyewitnesses reported seeing plumes of smoke billowing from the side of the restaurant.

Sales director James Rolph, 32, said: "It was very, very smoky, you could smell and see smoke from quite a way away.

"The kitchen was on fire and then the fire fighters broke into the back yard because they were worried that was going to catch alight as well. It was a really nasty incident and quite shocking because I used to go in there quite a lot."

Paula Anton, a 24-year-old press officer who lives opposite the restaurant, said: "I got a load of texts and calls from my friends telling me what had happened, I couldn't believe it.

"When I got down there the people above were being evacuated and there were loads of people watching and taking pictures.

"It's really bad news and a lot of people are upset because it's very popular."

Jay Patel, who works at the nearby Freshco convenience store, raised the alert when he noticed smoke coming from the side of the eatery, and later took pictures.

He said: "It went on all afternoon. The road was shut off for quite a while. The main thing is no one was hurt."

Fire fighters are continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze, and it is not yet known when the restaurant, which is part of the Brinkley's Group, will re-open.